The village of St Columb Minor dates back to the 11th century, however a settlement existed much earlier under the Manor of Rialton, it has now been absorbed by its larger neighbour Newquay.

Here, long before the St Columba legend, came the first Celtic missionaries who exorcised evil spirits and they probably erected the first Christian Church which would have been a rough wooden building.

Its outline has been traced from the present chancel step to about the position of the font at the West end of the Church, with North and South walls exactly where the nave arches stand today.

The Tower, which is the second highest in Cornwall, is 115 feet in height and was built in the 15th Century; originally it could have been seen from every point in the parish.

'[2] In Celtic and Anglo-Saxon times Rialton (in which the village fell under) was the head manor of the Hundred of Pydar and belonged to the monks of St Petroc at Bodmin.

The western end of the church and yard is in view of the Trevelgue clifftop twin tumuli, known locally as The Barrows.

The church-town lay to the west and south while the shelving ground to the north and east prevented building.

[6] In 1894 the parish was abolished and split to form Newquay and St Columb Minor Rural.

[8] Porth Beach was originally the port for the village of St. Columb Minor, the long sheltered bay is a drowned river mouth and in the 19th century the tide reached Rialton almost two miles (3 km) inland.

[citation needed] The public house, the Farmers Arms, was originally built of cobb with a Thatched roof.

The cross is only one metre from its original location where, before the urban expansion of Newquay, it was situated on the edge of a field called `Cross Close', by the junction of the main route with a parish footpath leading to the church at St Columb Minor.

[9] This path was of importance at that time as the direct link between these two dependent medieval religious establishments.

The line of the path north east from the cross survives in a modified form as a public footpath.

[9] The modern parish of Newquay, within which Doublestiles Cross and its church path are situated, was only created in 1918; this medieval monument preserves the route relating to the former parish of St Columb Minor and the earlier route to the church at Crantock.